Older women who regularly eat plant-based protein face lower risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD), all-cause mortality and dementia-related mortality, according to new findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. In addition, the authors added, a substitution analysis found that directly replacing animal protein with plant-based protein is associated with those same improvements.
The authors tracked data from more than 102,000 postmenopausal women who enrolled in the national Women’s Health Initiative study from 1993 to 1998 and were followed through February 2017. All participants were between the ages of 50 and 79 years old. More than 25,000 participants died over the course of the study, including nearly 7,000 who died from CVD, more than 7,500 who died from cancer and more than 2,500 who died from dementia.
Overall, the team found, women with the highest amount of plant-based protein intake had a 9% lower risk of all-cause mortality, a 12% lower risk of CVD and a 21% lower risk of dementia-related mortality compared to women who ate the smallest amount of plant-based protein. Directly substituting animal protein with plant-based protein was associated with the same benefits.
Also, the authors added, eating large amounts of unprocessed meat, eggs or dairy products were all separately associated with higher risks of CVD mortality. Eating a large amounts of eggs was also linked to a 10% higher risk of cancer-related mortality and a 14% lower risk of dementia-related mortality.
“It is unclear in our study why eggs were associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular and cancer death,” lead author Wei Bao, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, said in a statement. “It might be related to the way people cook and eat eggs. Eggs can be boiled, scrambled, poached, baked, basted, fried, shirred, coddled or pickled or in combinations with other foods. In the United States, people usually eat eggs in the form of fried eggs and often with other foods such as bacon.”
Another key finding from analysis was the fact that substituting total red meat, eggs or dairy products with nuts was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality.
“It is important to note that dietary proteins are not consumed in isolation, so the interpretation of these findings could be challenging and should be based on consideration of the overall diet including different cooking methods,” co-author Yangbo Sun, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, said in the same statement.
“Our findings support the need to consider dietary protein sources in future dietary guidelines,” added Bao. “Current dietary guidelines mainly focus on the total amount of protein, and our findings show that there may be different health influences associated with different types of protein foods.”
The full study is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.